Drugmakers tried just about every move under the sun to nurture sales of its products -- pharmacy coupons for patients, exclusive deals with insurers, even selling a medicine’s patent to a Native American ...

The makers of an expensive cholesterol-lowering drug plan to offer discounts of up to 69% in exchange for insurers and pharmacy-benefit managers expanding their coverage of the medicine to more patients....

A potent, expensive cholesterol drug sold by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi significantly reduced major adverse heart events in a huge study presented on Saturday but it remains to be seen whether the new data will prompt insurers to pay for increased use of the medicine. The drug, Praluent, also led to fewer deaths among high-risk patients, which could be the strongest argument for insurers to finally remove barriers that have severely constrained sales and frustrated physicians trying to get the medicine to patients. Insurers have balked at paying for Praluent and a rival Amgen drug, which dramatically lower "bad" LDL cholesterol but carry list prices of more than $14,000 a year before discounts, over fear of the cost of use over many years by millions of patients.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA said on Saturday they would be willing to charge less for their potent cholesterol drug, Praluent, if insurers agree to lessen onerous access barriers for high-risk patients. Since the approvals in 2015 of Praluent and a similar rival biotech drug from Amgen Inc, insurers and pharmacy benefit managers have been rejecting some 70 percent of prescriptions written, severely holding back sales and frustrating doctors and at-risk heart patients.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi are taking the unprecedented step of cutting the price of their $14,000-a-year heart drug Praluent and narrowing its use to high-risk patients shown to benefit ...

Sanofi (SASY.PA) will decide shortly whether to seek regulatory approval for its dengue vaccine Dengvaxia in the United States and remains committed to the medicine despite a health scare in the Philippines, a senior executive said on Wednesday. David Loew, head of Sanofi Pasteur, the French drugmaker's vaccines division, said his teams had complied with all regulations regarding Dengvaxia and had no regrets about the way the product had been developed. The Philippines, where more than 800,000 school-age children were vaccinated in 2016, suspended a vast public immunisation programme last year because of safety concerns.

The biotech sector was in focus last week with these stories - FDA's acceptance of Regeneron's Dupixent's application for asthma, Biogen and partner AbbVie's decision to withdraw multiple sclerosis drug among others.